Tea company owner Tate Blackwood isn’t just in search of the perfect persimmon-flavored tea; he’s also looking for a good time. Many one-night stands are his thing. There’s no way he’ll have a boyfriend, or fall in love with another man.<br><br>Enter Paul Persimmon, the green-eyed owner of a little bookshop in downtown Channing, Pennsylvania. Tate thinks the man is honest, warm-hearted, and uninhibited. When Tate enters the bookshop, his life takes a quick turn. Although Persimmon insists on a date with Tate, Tate thinks another one-night stand will happen.<br><br>Is Tate too set in his ways to settle down with one man, though? Can he reach for love after finding Persimmon? Or is his relationship more about being best buds with Persimmon? Only time and persimmon tea will provide the answers to his steeping questions.

Finding Persimmon

After a morning and afternoon of visiting two lemon fields with Nel, both men retired to their private abodes. Nel owned a beach house some seven miles south of Tate’s floating hotel room. Of course, the crop seller offered Tate to spend his Key West time in Nel’s beach house. Tate kindly objected, separating work from play, and being in Nel’s way, knowing the Columbian man wanted more than a business transaction concerning lemon hybrids. Nel had made it quite clear that he was attracted to Tate, but Tate refused the forwardness, keeping Paul Persimmon inside his thoughts and heart.


Not six minutes into the beginning stages of a late afternoon nap, attempting to fall asleep to the calming sounds of waves, sea birds, and the wind, Tate’s cellphone chirped. The device came alive next to him on the queen-size bed. He retrieved the phone, smiled at Persimmon’s number, and decided to take the call.


Chapter 14